


To Hunt a Tiger

by Sagus



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 19:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4679282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagus/pseuds/Sagus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Byakuren and the Hakurei Miko are called to a remote moutain village to take care of a youkai pest that has been rounding them. Oneshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Hunt a Tiger

**Author's Note:**

> This was pretty much an excuse to write a fight scene that ended up growing a bit more than I expected. It was enjoyable to write, and I hope you guys find it enjoyable to read as well!

Byakuren absent-mindedly tugged at the string holding her mask against the back of her head. A beaten path leading to a thick, lush bamboo forest stood in front of her, quiet and serene.

It was the middle of summer, and even though the sun was setting, the place was still unpleasantly hot, with no wind blowing. Byakuren’s long brown hair was braided as tightly as possible, and she had replaced her usual black monk attire with a light white robe, which made the weather at least bearable.

The heat made her skin itch around the strand on her forehead, beads of sweat accumulating around it. She tugged at it again, relieving the annoying sensation for a few moments.

“Are we going or what?” said an irritated voice behind her.

Byakuren turned her head to look at the woman standing there. She was clad in the red and white garbs of priesthood, subtly adapted to better suit her hand-to-hand fighting style. Her strong, scarred arms were crossed, and her face, framed by long black hair, was contorted into a scowl. As per usual.

Giggling, Byakuren gave the taller woman a small smile.

“Aren’t you going to put your mask, Hakurei?”

“No. I don’t see why I should.”

“It’s safer that way.”

“It looks really stupid. Besides, there’s no way it’s a youkai tiger in there. We don’t even have those in Japan, for fuck’s sake.”

“Even so, it might make the men more at ease. They already don’t feel very comfortable, being led by two women.”

“I don’t give half a damn about that. Aren’t they all convicts or something, too?” She sighed. “I still can’t believe you dragged me out here. Why would a great youkai hunter like you want help going after one measly beast, anyway?”

“Beast youkai are quite varied, and from the wounds it gave to its poor victim, I didn’t think it would be wise to fight it alone. Besides…” Byakuren smiled. “I enjoy your company.”

Hakurei fumbled a bit, scratching the back of her head.

“Well, you’ve got five men here to aid you. Isn’t that enough? Unless…” The woman grinned. “The village just sent them as bait?”

Byakuren frowned.

“They’re our guides, here to take us to the clearing where the attack happened. I think their elders would prefer them to return alive.”

“If you say so.” Hakurei shrugged. “Still think it’d be easier to tie them up and leave them as offerings.”

The monk crossed her arms and gave her a reproving look.

“Alright, alright. Whatever, don’t care. Now, let’s get going.”

“First, go put your mask”

“For heaven’s sake woman-”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“I’ll give you a reward later.”

“…does that mean-”

“Yes.”

“…” 

* * *

“This stupid thing itches like hell” Hakurei said, pulling at the strand keeping her mask in place. Byakuren giggled as she traced the steps of the two men in front of her.

The bamboo forest was eerily silent for a hot summer evening. No birds were singing, no insects chirped, and the lack of wind made the stillness of the place more pronounced. The air was heavy with a strange tension.

“Seriously, it’s not a damn tiger. How would this thing even ward one off, anyway? It’s just a wooden-“

“Hakurei, be quiet! It’ll hear us coming” Byakuren whispered.

Hakurei huffed in frustration, but fell silent. The three men behind her stifled a laugh.

They kept walking for a while, with only the occasional sound of the men’s steps accidentally crushing a fallen bamboo twig breaking the oppressive silence of the forest. Byakuren mentally winced every time it happened, expecting to be pounced at any moment.

Suddenly, they heard a muffled scream coming from behind them, cut short only a second after starting.

They all immediately turned back, but couldn’t see anything.

“Wait.” One of the men that were behind Hakurei said. “Where’s Shinji? He was just behind-“

Another scream cut short was heard, this time coming from front of their line.

They turned.

One of the two men in front of Byakuren had disappeared.

The remaining men started to get restless, unsheathing their long knives and brandishing them aimlessly. Byakuren and Hakurei slowly looked around, looking for signs of their opponent.

The forest remained in complete silence. The rows of bamboo stretched in every direction, and the rays of the setting sun tinged the whole area with a golden light, confusing the sight.

A few more seconds passed.

Suddenly, a body fell from the canopy of the forest, landing right in front of them. It was followed shortly by another, crashing behind them.

The three men panicked and went running into the forest, screaming.

“Wait, please!” Byakuren said, running after them.

“Gods-fucking-damnit” Hakurei said through gritted teeth, following her. As she ran, she made sure to chip some of the bamboo poles along the way.

The forest grew thicker the deeper they got, and the two quickly lost sight of the three men. All they could hear were their screams of fear, growing more distant and muffled as they lost themselves among the bamboo.

Before long, one of them was silenced.

“Come, we have to find them!” Byakuren said, pulling Hakurei’s hand.

“It’s useless now. We should search for the clearing; I don’t want to fight this thing in its element.”

“We can’t just leave them to die!”

Another one of the men fell abruptly quiet.

“They already killed themselves. Now let’s _go_.”

Byakuren looked reluctantly at Hakurei. Before she could answer, the last man’s screams were cut off.

The forest fell into silence again.

Byakuren closed her eyes and sighed.

The two of them ran back in the direction they had come from, following the markings Hakurei had left on the occasional bamboo rod. They hadn’t strayed far from the path, and before long they saw the bodies that the youkai had dropped near the trail. Without stopping, they followed it the best they could, occasionally looking around in search of their assailant.

They ran for a long time, never stopping. The trail was poorly kept and hard to see; after a while, they weren’t even sure they were actually following it anymore. But every time they slowed down, they’d feel a bestial gaze locking in on their backs, which forced them to continue their frantic run as the forest grew darker and darker.

Suddenly, as they began to think that they had lost their way entirely, the bamboo thicket gave way to a large, circular clearing. The sun had long set by now, leaving the area completely dark.

Byakuren and Hakurei paused to catch their breath, keeping their ears open for any sound other than their own panting, eyes darting around the edges of the clearing.

It didn’t take long for them to hear a low growl coming from the forest in front of them.

Hakurei grinned.

“Looks like it found us.”

She raised her fists in front of her.

“Ready?”

Byakuren hummed in response, then closed her eyes and quietly began chanting.

“…monks… as the tamed mind… know not of… conduces to great…”

Hakurei rolled her eyes.

Two yellow orbs of light could be seen in the edge of the bamboo thicket, slowing approaching them. The growling grew louder and stronger as it got closer, a guttural sound that made the hairs in the back of Byakuren’s neck stand.

Five meters from them, it stopped.

“…monks… I know not… tamed, controlled, guarded…”

In the blink of an eye, it jumped, aiming at Byakuren.

“…such a mind indeed brings great bliss. Namusan!”

There was a bright flash of light as Byakuren’s fist connected straight to the face of the pouncing youkai, sending it spiraling to where it came from.

Hakurei laughed.

“Is that really your new activation mantra? I’d shorten it by four lines or so, if I were you.”

Byakuren huffed.

“A longer _sutra_ empowers me for longer. Besides, it’s a very beautiful text. Now light up the area, please.”

Still laughing, Hakurei clapped her hands twice. Seven balls of light appeared around her, which then shot straight to the bamboo forest’s canopy, bathing the area with a faint but clear light.

“Thank you” Byakuren said.

“Yeah, yeah. More importantly…” Hakurei said, pointing towards the youkai who was just now recovering from the punch. “Seems like our target’s waking up.”

Byakuren turned to look at the youkai.

To her surprise, it was human shaped.

She looked like a young woman, perhaps in her early twenties. Her hair was yellow with black stripes, patterned like how the stories described a tiger’s coat to be. Her round ears were lined with orange and black fur, and they twitched at the smallest sounds. She had golden eyes, which contrasted heavily with her brown skin. A long, stripped tail swayed angrily from side to side near her waist, fur puffed. The fingers on her hand and the toes on her feet ended in sharp, hooked claws, stained with dirt. She wore simple clothing, likely stolen from the village.

She was crouching, looking at them with clear anger in her eyes.

“Seems like a feisty one” Hakurei said.

“Don’t play around. Let’s do this as quickly as possible” Byakuren said, holding an open palm perpendicular to her chest.

Hakurei only chuckled, then charged at the youkai.

She reacted fast, getting up and blocking the first punch thrown in her direction with her hand. Hakurei quickly withdrew her fist and raised her right leg, feinting a kick. The youkai fell for it, quickly dropping her left arm to block, only to be surprised as Hakurei kicked her with her left leg instead, sending her flying.

She began to growl again as she attempted to get up, but was quickly interrupted as Byakuren grabbed her by the hair and effortlessly pulled her up. The monk landed seven punches straight into the youkai’s stomach before landing a final, magically charged one, creating another flash of light that threw her away.

She landed in the middle of the clearing with a heavy thud.

This time, she didn’t attempt to get up.

“Well, that was disappointingly easy” Hakurei said, walking towards the defeated youkai’s direction.

“Calm down, Hakurei. With her down, we can-“

Byakuren suddenly stopped.

“What?”

“I’m not sure, but… I’m sensing something else in the area…” Byakuren said, looking around the clearing.

“…now that you said it, I think I can-“

A loud, powerful roar erupted from the forest.

Before either of them could react, a giant feline pounced from among the bamboo and landed on top of Hakurei, sending her to the ground. It tried to bite down her neck, but she managed to raise her hands in time to hold the monster’s jaws open.

The struggle was short lived as Byakuren quickly rushed in and hit the creature’s face with her knee, knocking it away from Hakurei. The priestess hastily got on her feet, panting.

The three combatants paused, staring at each other.

“…hey, Hakurei.”

“I know what you’re gonna say, and I don’t wanna hear it.”

“Don’t you think…”

“I’m serious.”

“Don’t you think that this one…”

“Byakuren I swear to the Hakurei God-“

 “Don’t you think that this one looks a lot like a ti-“

“IT’S NOT A FUCKING TIGER GODS DAMNIT”

The not-tiger roared and pounced again, aiming at Byakuren this time. It was deceptively fast, and she only narrowly avoided being thrown to the ground. An attempted strike against the youkai hit only thin air as it quickly maneuvered out of the way, turning to look at them again as it landed.

The creature growled and began to slowly circle them, darting its eyes from one to the other. The two women kept their guard up, watching for any opening.

When it got near the unconscious humanoid youkai, it stopped. Slowly, without breaking eye contact with either of them, it approached and sniffed her.

It then stopped growling.

In a flash, the tiger-like creature’s body contorted and twisted, quickly taking on a humanoid shape.

She too was a woman, but she looked older, nearing or at her forties. Her hair had the same double coloration of the younger one, but the stripes’ pattern was different. Her eyes were red, and glowed strongly in the dark. Unlike the other youkai, she didn’t have a tail or feline ears, but her claws were longer, caked in dried blood, and her dark skin was covered in scars. Standing upright, she was as tall as Hakurei.

Her eyes were cautious as she studied her opponents.

“Leave this forest at once” she said, in a strong voice.

Byakuren’s eyes widened.

“Sorry, no can do” Hakurei said, grinning and taking a step closer. “You killed a bunch of humans, so I’m afraid we’ll have to do some extermination work here today.”

“Hakurei, wait” Byakuren whispered. “Maybe we can negotiate with her.”

“For fuck’s sake Byakuren” Hakurei whispered back, without looking at her. “This one has killed people. I won’t let you do your usual bullshit today.”

“Your kind settles on our mountain, hunts our prey, attacks us for protecting our own territory, then expect no retaliation?” the youkai said, loudly. ”I’ll only warn you once more. Leave, or I’ll attack.”

“Bring it on, sister!” Hakurei shouted.

“Hakurei, please-“

The youkai jumped in their direction, attempting to claw at the faces. Both reacted on time, blocking the attack and quickly striking back, with Byakuren going for her stomach and Hakurei for her head. She hastily stepped out of their reach and, as they pulled their arms back, pounced again at Hakurei, aiming a kick at her chest.

Failing to block it on time, the force of the blown made Hakurei fly quite a few meters away. Without pause, the youkai turned to Byakuren, who had already launched a punch straight towards her face. Dodging to the side, she stepped in closer and raised a knee right on Byakuren’s stomach.

Gritting her teeth, Byakuren managed to summon a powerful explosion on the fist that missed her target, which sent her sliding away from her attacker. The explosion caught the youkai by surprise, burning her back. Growling in pain, she jumped to Byakuren’s side and prepared to pounce again.

Before she could attack, however, a large yin-yang orb flew in her direction, forcing her to step further away from Byakuren. The orb stopped just after passing her and homed in again, forcing her to duck.

Sensing that it would continue to pursue her, the youkai quickly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding being smashed by the sphere. It stayed quietly in the ground for a moment before dissolving into a barrage of red magical pellets, all homing in on her. She ran, jumped and rolled around the clearing to avoid the projectiles, managing to make most hit the ground or fly right past her. The few that hit burned her badly, puncturing her skin and flesh like arrows.

After the onslaught was over, she barely had time to breath before she noticed Hakurei running in her direction.

Getting on her feet just in time to defend herself, she managed to block a punch aimed straight to her face and the two jabs at her stomach that followed. As Hakurei stepped back to create some distance, the youkai lunged forward and clawed her opponent’s arm, drawing blood. Hakurei hissed and attempted to strike back with a kick. The youkai dodged the attack, but was instead hit square in the head by a jumping strike from Byakuren, which sent her flying.

Managing to land on her feet, she got up in time to block two more of Hakurei’s punches. As she prepared to retaliate, a bright white light suddenly flashed behind the priestess. Hakurei gave the youkai a quick smile, then ducked.

Byakuren was standing behind her, holding a spear made of light in each of her hands. She quickly threw one in the youkai’s direction, who frantically jumped to the side to dodge it.

The weapon only managed to graze the left side of her abdomen; that, however, was enough to burn away a noticeable chunk of flesh, filling the clearing with the nauseating smell of charred meat.

A loud, pained roar escaped the youkai’s throat, and before she could react, she felt a kick landing right in her freshly opened wound.

She nearly collapsed from the strike, but managed to hold herself up and dodge another punch from Hakurei. She looked back to Byakuren just in time to see the other spear flying in her direction. This time, the monk rushed in after it.

The youkai ducked to dodge the projectile, wincing from the pulsating wound on her side. It noticeably slowed her actions, and before she could get up, both Byakuren and Hakurei landed two devastating blows to her head and back, sending her straight to the ground.

For a second, none of the three moved.

A loud roar erupted from the youkai’s throat as she tried to pounce Hakurei again. Her opponents moved faster and struck her head and back once more.

There was another moment of silence.

The youkai gasped. Byakuren and Hakurei raised their fists.

The downed creature tried to get up again, but there was no strength left in her body.

A few seconds later, she slumped back to the ground, defeated.

Byakuren and Hakurei lowered their hands.

“Now THAT was invigorating” Hakurei said, inhaling deeply. “Weird she had no magic, though. I guess fake tigers don’t make for powerful youkai. I’m thinking we’d probably have won even if we stayed in the forest.”

Byakuren shot her a reproving look. Hakurei scratched the back of her head.

“What? Oh, back off! She just tried to kill us, I can feel good about having beat the shit outta her.”

Sighing, Byakuren crouched near the fallen youkai, flipping her body so that her face faced upright. She moved her lips, but seemingly no sound came out.

“Time to finish this, I guess” Hakurei said, raising her fist.

“Wait” Byakuren said.

“What?”

“I think she’s trying to say something.”

“…aaaaand?”

Byakuren didn’t answer, instead lowering her head towards the youkai’s lips.

 “Please… not my daugther. She did nothing… nothing wrong… she’s young… just wanted… a fight… didn’t attack any human… I swear…” she said, weakly.

The monk raised her head. She looked at the youkai in the eye, then nodded.

“What is her name?”

“Shou… her name is Shou… please…” the youkai whispered, almost inaudibly.

Byakuren nodded again.

The youkai smiled a bit, then closed her eyes

“Are you done?”

“Yes. Would you allow me?”

Hakurei shrugged. “Go ahead.”

Byakuren held her hand perpendicular to the youkai’s chest, above her heart.

"I'm sorry."

A weak laugh escaped the youkai's lips.

"...you do what you must... protect your kind."

Byakuren closed her eyes.

“Om mani padme hum… om mani padme hum…” she chanted in a low, grave voice.

She pushed her hand down with great force, and ended the tiger’s life.

Byakuren opened her eyes, letting out a sigh.

She got up to see Hakurei walking in the direction of the younger youkai.

“Wait!”

Hakurei looked back at her, now clearly annoyed.

“What now, Byakuren? It’s a man-eating youkai. We have to finish it.”

“That one is innocent. Her mother said so.”

“Oh, _its mother said so_. Well, that changes _everything_.” Hakurei said, waving her hands dramatically. “Yeah, it all makes sense now! It was just trying to cuddle with you when it pounced. With its claws.” She walked towards Byakuren, looking her in the eyes. “I’ve been complicit with your ‘youkai savior’ complex a few times before, but at least none of them had actually tried to kill you, or humans, or me. This?” She pointed at the youkai. “This is a man-eater. It’s a menace that will grow into a _bigger_ menace.”

“She isn’t, and she won’t.”

Hakurei threw her hands to the air.

“Oh my gods, you’re impossible. You’re just. Fucking impossible.”

“Please. Trust me.”

The priestess threw her an ugly look.

“I do trust you. You have a good heart, even if it’s a misguided one. But you risk _too much_. You don’t think about the damn consequences of what you do.”

“I am well aware of what will happen if I’m found.”

Hakurei shook her head.

“It’s not just what would happen to _you_. How long until one of your pets becomes bored with ‘playing Buddhist’ and goes back to terrorizing villagers? Have you thought about that?”

“Don’t talk about them like that.” Byakuren said, in a calm tone. “And they would never do such a thing. I have been doing this for years now. I know them.”

The priestess let out a long, heavy sigh.

“You’ve got to stop this, you know. You’re heading down a path that’ll only give you an early grave. Or worse.”

“You know I can’t.” Byakuren said, in a soft voice. “You know I wouldn’t, even if I could.”

There was a long pause in which neither of them spoke or moved.

Finally, Hakurei broke their eye contact and turned around.

“Fine. _Fine_. Keep building your fucking zoo, then. I’m done trying to reason with you.”

Byakuren smiled, and then hugged her from behind.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t. Just… just go grab it… her. Go grab the tiger.”

Byakuren giggled, letting go of Hakurei and walking towards the unconscious youkai.

“Her name’s Shou, by the way. Her mother told me.”

She only heard an exasperate sigh in response.

Carefully, Byakuren lifted Shou from the ground, letting her head rest on her shoulder.

“What are you going to do with that one?” Hakurei said, scratching the back of her head.

“Well… Bishamonten can’t be at the temple frequently, and many youkai are rather afraid of the place, so I thought-“

“You’re going to push a fucking youkai to be the avatar of a god, aren’t you.”

“Ah, well… yes. This way, Bishamonten will always have a presence there, and the other youkai will see her among us and perhaps feel more at ease.”

Hakurei shook her head, but couldn’t hide a grin.

“You’re unbelievable. Was this your plan all along?”

“More or less. I didn’t expect there to be two youkai here, or for you to be feeling so thick-headedly aggressive tonight.” Hakurei rolled her eyes. “But I guess that things could’ve gone worse.”

“Just hope she won’t hold that ‘I killed you mother’ thing against you.”

“Youkai see things like this differently, actually. You see, when you defeat one in an-“

“Yeah, I don’t really care. Let’s get going.”

With a snap of her fingers, Hakurei summoned her yin-yang orb. With another snap, the orb began to move towards the forest.

“Come on, it’ll show the way back to my shrine.”

“Ah! That reminds me.” Byakuren said as she hurried to Hakurei’s side. “I’d like to make a request, if that’s agreeable.”

“Hm?”

“Would it be fine if I spent the night at the shrine? The temple is further north, after all, and I-”

“’Would it be fine’?” Hakurei said, with a mischievous grin. “Woman, you still owe me that reward you promised. The shrine is _exactly where_ you’re gonna be spending the night.”

Byakuren paused for a second, then blushed profusely.

“O-oh. Ah, well, I-I’m rather tired today, and we’ll be having a guest, s-so maybe-“

“Is the word of a Buddhist worth so little? I’m shocked.”

“U-uhn…” Byakuren cleared her throat. “I-I suppose I could, arrange for something…” 

* * *

 They had just reached the shrine’s torii when Hakurei suddenly stopped.

“ … I just noticed something.”

“Yes?”

“We’re still wearing these stupid masks on the back of our heads.”

 “... ah, you’re right.”

There was a pause.

“… told you they were useless.”

Byakuren rolled her eyes, smiling.

“Oh, do shut up.”


End file.
